La Belette
by AliceJericho
Summary: Dominique Weasley is different, she always has been. She's the outcast of the Weasley family and she tries to take this in her stride even if it's hurting her to do so. A series of 50 one shots about Dominique for HedwigBlack's 'Minor Character Boot Camp Challenge'. Title is 'Weasel' in French.
1. Afraid

For _HedwigBlack's_ Minor Boot Camp Challenge! I've chosen Dominique Weasley who I have created an entire headcannon for and I love it to pieces.

* * *

_Afraid._

Dominique takes hold of her older sister's hand; afraid that Victoire will disappear the moment she lets go. There are too many people at the station, more than she remembers from the previous year. She decides that it's because it's the first time she will board the train to Hogwarts.

The people around her barely even look at the hooting owl on top of her luggage despite how out of place it looks in the Muggle station. Though, on the 1st of September Kings Cross is always littered with strange animals and even stranger people.

Her dad, Bill, is pushing her trolley, while her mum, Fleur, pushes Victoire's. The latter has no strange animal sitting atop it, just a white cat resting in its cage, and the girls' younger brother sitting on the end. The wall between platforms 9 and 10 comes into sight and Dominique squeezes Victoire's hand without realising, her stomach turning.

"You girls go first." Bill nods at his daughters who are now standing in front of the wall, "At a run."

Victoire smiles down at her sister, tugs on her hand and runs at the wall. Dominique lets Victoire pull her along, her pace quickening as the wall draws nearer. Without flinching – because flinching results in pain – she runs through the wall, a big crimson train appearing in front of her.

"It's much more exciting when you're getting on it, isn't it?" Victoire asks, beaming. They move out of the way, so they aren't hit by their parents who come through the barrier soon after them, though Dominique's eyes never leave the train and her hand never leaves Victoire's.

"Vic, what house do you think I'll be in?" the eleven year old asks in a quiet voice. She wants nothing more than to be in Ravenclaw with her sister, but fears she isn't smart enough.

"Hufflepuff." Victoire smiles, not having to think about her answer, "Like Teddy."

People push past her, rushing towards their friends. There has been no sign of Teddy, though he is already at the station having arrived earlier than everyone else, as always. There is no use searching for a certain hair colour because no one ever knows to what colour Teddy has decided to change his hair. Dominique fancies the dark red colour even if she has only seen it twice.

"Is Hufflepuff a good house?" she asks in the same quiet voice as her parents appear by her side. Bill takes one hand off of the trolley and puts it onto her shoulder.

"All the houses are good houses." He says in an assuring voice.

"Teddy says that Slytherins are bad people. I don't want to be in Slytherin." Dominique worries that this will happen to her and her grip on Victoire's hand becomes too much for the latter to bear, so she pulls away.

"You're much too sweet to be in Slytherin." Though it isn't a voice she had heard that day. It was the voice of Teddy Lupin – his hair a socially acceptable shade of light brown - standing behind the girls casually as though he had been there since their arrival.

Having lost her grip on Victoire's hand, she turns around and wraps her arms around his waist, again afraid that if she lets go he will disappear. He puts an arm over her shoulder to keep her calm. He's barely fourteen but he knows how scared Dominique is and he wants to make her feel safe. He had done the same thing for Victoire at the same time the previous year.

One thing they all know for sure, Dominique will not be sorted into Gryffindor. The Weasley tradition of being in Gryffindor had been broken with Victoire being sorted into Ravenclaw, and it would not be set back on track with Dominique.

"Am I going to be okay, Teddy?" she whispers to him, not wanting her family to hear.

"What are you afraid of? You've got me and Vic." He comforts her but she sighs in frustration. The train lets off more steam than before, signalling that it has less than ten minutes until departure.

"What if I'm all by myself?"

"You won't be, I promise." He squeezes her once more to let her know that he is serious.

* * *

Her heart hammers in her small chest when her name is finally called by Professor Longbottom. She can't find Teddy or Victoire through the other people sitting at the house tables and it only makes her more anxious. Teddy's eyes would be enough to calm her down and Victoire's smile would be more comforting than ever.

The Sorting Hat touches her head softly before being released and weighing down on her like a brick. It speaks to her softly though to Dominique it sounds like random words are being shouted in her ear. She hears nothing of what the Hat has to say to her, she barely even thinks about where she would like to be sorted – into Ravenclaw with her sister would be ideal – all she wants is to be seated at a table. As the last person to be sorted, she feels highly embarrassed and worried that people will be mad at her for delaying their food.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!"_ the Hat booms and she immediately gets to her feet. Teddy is the first person standing at the Hufflepuff table, his smile huge, his eyes wide and his hands clapping manically. He is all the way at the other end of the Great Hall, but Dominique rushes towards him, ignoring the other gaps in the table.

She's pulled into the gap beside him with much gusto and her housemates reach out to congratulate her and she happily accepts their handshakes and pats on the back.

"What were you afraid of, Dom?" Teddy asks her as Professor Justice makes his way to the podium. The blonde shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders, realising that she had never had anything to be afraid of.

* * *

50 chapters of Dominique Weasley, I'm writing them in present tense which I don't usually do so I hope it's okay! This isn't going to be in chronological order or in the order of the prompts, they will come as I am able to spawn ideas and have time.


	2. Mud

_Joyeux Noël! _

* * *

The fourteen Weasley grandkids, and honorary grandchild Teddy Lupin, separate into their teams of six, standing either side of the makeshift pitch with Victoire standing in the centre ready to act as referee.

The Annual Weasley Family Quidditch Match is a cause of great excitement for the entire family. Each team was short a person, but it is enough to draw all of the adults out of the house to see who will come out on top.

Teddy Lupin captains the team of Hugo, Dominique, Lucy, Lily and Fred – though Lucy and Dominique are of little help. They oppose Molly's team of James, Louis, Albus, Rose and Roxy – Rose is basically useless in the scheme of things. Their teams of six require no Seeker as they play until one team reaches 200 points.

Victoire is the most useless at Quidditch which is why she is delegated to referee though even this position is unnecessary as the game is generally managed without her input.

She blows her whistle and Fred and Roxy rise into the air, taking their positions at either end of the pitch, guarding the hoops. Another blow of the whistle results in James and Hugo releasing the Bludgers – both having been altered by an overly cautious Fleur so that they barely hurt at all. James has long been aware of this and managed to find a way of striking them so that they will cause a significant amount of pain.

The third and final whistle means the game has begun and everyone rises into the air.

Dominique rises with some skill as she had been coached by her uncle Charlie at a young age. She is a beater like her brother Louis – even though he is chaser for the Slytherin team at school.

"You alright, Dom?" Teddy asks her flying right beside her. She nods at her boyfriend and shakes her head to get back her concentration.

It has been raining all morning and they had decided to play when it stopped, though Dominique feels a raindrop on the tip of her nose and knows that it is coming back.

She rolls her eyes as Molly scores a goal for the other time. Once upon a time they had been the best of friends, but Dominique has changed.

The bludger flies towards her and she smirks, swinging the bat behind her head. With a hard whack, the bludger flies directly for Rose – the most unsuspecting victim. It is an unspoken rule that Rose stays out of the game and everyone else plays around her but Dominique always enjoyed breaking the rules.

She flies as though she hasn't just tried to knock the red head off of her broom but Rose's loud shriek lets her know that she has succeeded. Teddy gives his girlfriend a stern look but she smiles and shrugs at him.

Dominique isn't great at Quidditch – only half of the family had been blessed with the talent – but she is able to successfully fly a broom and can even stay on it once she has been hit by bludger. That comes in handy when James seeks revenge for having Rose forfeit the game. The bludger whacks the end of the broom's handle sending Dominique into a spin and heading towards the ground.

Not that she really minds, it rained all morning and only stopped just before they started the match. Dominique knows that the landing won't be soft, but she knows that it could be a lot worse so she embraces the impending bump and closes her eyes. Only the ground never comes and soon she's floating in mid-air. She quickly opens her eyes and sees Teddy smirking down at her, his wand directed at the ground beneath her.

"Not this time." He says, pulling his wand away. She hits the ground with a soft thud and feels the mud squelch beneath her bum. "She's fourteen, Nique." He points at Rose who is in tears by her father's side. Putting her hands on the ground for leverage, Dominique pushes her broom out from underneath her and stands up.

"That's why it's so fun." While her tone was joyful and full of banter, her face told a different story. "I'm sorry, okay. Next time I'll aim it at Vic."

With Dominique and Rose covered in mud, the game continues. Dominique leaves her young cousin alone but only because she has to dodge the bludgers being sent her way by James. Louis is the other beater so she doesn't have to worry about him but James always liked to aim for her.

Fleur calls a premature end to the game when Louis accidentally flies into one of the make shift goals. Lily grumbles at her aunt. She is twelve years old and has only been a part of the games for two years, yet they have always been something she enjoyed watching and to have it cancelled does please her.

"I have an idea." Dominique whispers into Teddy's ear with a small smile. People see Dominique as being incapable of fun due to her most often sour demeanour, but she likes to prove these people wrong.

Casually, she pulls her wand out of her pocket and holds it by her side. With a slight flick, she smiles as a patch of mud starts to move and soon forms into a ball.

"Who?" she asks Teddy and he slyly points at Fred. Dom nods in understanding – it is who she had thought.

Within seconds of the mud pile hitting the back of Fred's head, a full on war has started. All children involved, even Victoire – but only because James got her in the chest and she needed revenge.

As she is still covered in mud from falling to the ground during the match, Dominique is entirely covered, from head-to-toe within minutes and she takes the opportunity to lie on the ground and stare up at the clouds, letting the rain hit her face.

Teddy lays down beside her, though not for very long as Dominique pulls him so he is resting above her, his lips hovering over hers. They share a kiss while the mud war continues around them. Dominique rolls them over, making sure to cover as much of Teddy in mud as possible.


	3. North

She is sick of being judged for being different. It has been years since she first dyed her hair and the family still gives her grief. She loves Teddy but not one person has told him his chosen hair colour is obnoxious or unsightly and it is only because it happens naturally.

Dominique could dye her hair brown and be told off because she changes it too quickly and too often. When she dye her hair back to blonde – as rare as those occurrences are – the family do not know how they should react so they resort back to scolding her.

Everyone had just assumed that Lucy would be like her father and disconnect from the family but it is in July of 2018 at the age of 19 that Dominique takes the opportunity to go north.

Without warning the witch packs her old school trunk and apparatus off the family property. She lands just outside of London and waits for the Knight Bus to arrive as she knows it will. Five minutes pass and she sees a flash of purple at the end of the street so she puts on a smile and sticks her hand out to hail it.

"Welcome to the-"

"Knight Bus, yeah." Her smile drops and she pushes past the young man, "Grab my stuff."

"I'm Reg." The boy says as he steps out to grab Dominique's luggage.

"Great, I don't care."

Due to it being the middle of the night, the bus is full of beds on wheels that Dominique knows for a fact move around obnoxiously with the bus.

Reg stands near the driver's window and knocks twice, the bus instantly lurches forward – the beds moving too.

"Where to?" he asks and Dominique shrugs at him.

"Scotland. Right up north."

"It's not going to be quick." She shrugs again and stares out of the window.

Reg glances at her and she knows he's looking at her currently green hair. She rolls her eyes. Dom lies down on one of the moving beds and closes her eyes, blocking out everything around her.

"What are you going north for?" Reg ruins her silence but her eyes never open.

"Judgemental pricks like you are ruining my Zen."

* * *

She dreams of Teddy that night and wakes in a hot sweat, wishing she didn't feel guilty for leaving him. As the only person in her life who she trusts she should have let him know she was going away but she chose not to because if she had, he would be suffering the consequences that are her family. The less people who knew about her running away the better.

The entire family had been unconsciously pushing Teddy towards Victoire and Dominique needs a break from that. She is aware that her absence will allow for more obvious hinting but she doesn't care, she trusts Teddy.

"We're as far north as we can go."

Dominique rolls her eyes at Reg again and is almost ready to claw his face off but resists the urge when it finally registers in her mind that she can finally get off the bus. The Battered Broom is her destination of choice in Fearn, Scotland. She is greeted by Rooke, Teddy's Screech Owl, resting just outside the door with a letter bearing her name in Teddy's boyish cursive.

"Come on, mate." Dom ushers the owl inside and follows it to the front desk. Without a word she is handed a key with the number 23 on it in gold.

She waits until she's in her room and settled before she opens the letter. As per usual, her heart flutters as she takes in her name, written slowly and carefully as though Teddy has tried to impress her.

_Nique,_

_You always said that you wanted to go north so I guess that's where you've gone._

_I know you wanted out and have done for a while… I wish we were going together though. We always said we would._

_Please let me know you're okay, the family is worried about you._

_I love you,_

_Teddy._

* * *

The next morning comes slowly as her sleeps is plagued with nightmares, most of them featuring her becoming Victoire. Though, she is unsure if they should be classified as nightmares when she feels absolutely wonderful as Victoire because she is treated with respect and admiration.

Rooke is still flying around the room, obviously being under orders not to leave until she has written a letter back. She makes the owl wait.

She has already tried to write out a letter but she has scrapped every single attempt. Half of them said _I'm alive_ while the others told Teddy that she was staying at The Battered Broom. Neither felt right.

The last thing she wants is to drag Teddy into her mess even if he is trying to become involved. However, she hates alienating him from her life. She doesn't speak to him like most girls speak to their boyfriends. She doesn't tell him how she is feeling about her life; he only knows what he has guessed.

She decides halfway through lunch that the best thing to do is tell him where she is.

He arrives in less than an hour.

He holds her; he kisses her head and tells her that he loves her. She knows that it's only a matter of time before he starts asking her questions. She savours the moment while she can. His hair is a gorgeous shade of brown and she runs her fingers through it, trying as hard as she can to distract him. It doesn't work.

"What's wrong? What's really wrong?" she doesn't tell him the answer, she doesn't even cry she just takes a deep breath, pulls away and lies down on her bed. "Come on, Dom."

"I can't, Teddy." Dominique feels her boyfriend kneel down beside the bed, looking at her sadly. "I don't want you to hate them."

"Hey," he moves her hands away from her face, "you can tell me anything."

She tells him the same sad sob story he's heard a million times before about how people don't trust her just because her hair is a strange colour, how her family doesn't like how she's become her own person despite how they have tried to tell her to be herself for years and years.

Teddy knows all about it, it's the only thing he is ever told. He knows it takes its toll on her he just wishes she'd tell him the full story, he knows there must be more to it. Dominique's a mystery, though, and she always has been.


	4. Brother

Dominique has never been happier for it to be Friday afternoon. The week has been particularly horrifying due to a mass of assignments being due all at the end of the week meaning that her habit of procrastinating caught up to her and made her life hell.

"Christmas is two weeks away, why do they always do this to us?"

"What does it even matter? It's all over. Trinny, we can relax." Dominique says with an uncharacteristic lilt in her voice.

"You're happy. This is insane!"

The fourth years chase each other down the stairs, not worrying about the other students they were knocking into and/or over.

Hogwarts Castle is decorated expertly for the Christmas season as it always is and this is part of the reason Dominique is happy. Christmas always made her happy, despite the fact that she would have to spend an entire day with the entire family – that was if she was lucky, if she wasn't, it'd be an entire week.

It is when the two girls have reached the barrels that mean the Hufflepuff Common Room that Dominique's high shifts dramatically into a low. Her cousin Fred is sitting outside with a horrified look on his face.

"What the bloomin' hell do you want?" she asks him coldly as he stands once he sees her. Fred doesn't bother her as much as some of her other cousins but the fact that he has come to _her_ looking like means that she is actually the only person who can fix it.

"It's Lou."

Her eyes widen and Trinity's do the same, both take a deep breath and follow Fred who has taken off. They run up the path they just took and glance at each other every now and then, both worrying as much as the other.

"Fred, do I need to get Vic?" the second year stops and looks at her stunned. The mention of her older sister as sent him into a frozen state because the sisters are hardly talking and he is unsure of which answer is correct. "Fred."

"Yes!" he answers abruptly, still standing on the spot.

"Right then." Dom closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, "Trin go with Fred and see what you can do while I try and find Vic. Or even better, Molly." Fred nods eagerly, knowing that Molly would probably be more help than the Ravenclaw.

Dominique races up the stairs in a path she knows all too well. She hates to admit that she had frequently run to Victoire many times during her first year at Hogwarts, begging for help with every problem that Teddy couldn't fix.

"Victoire!" she shouts as soon as she catches a glimpse of the blonde hair that can only belong to a Part Veela.

"Dominique?" Victoire turns around, fairly confused. The only real time the sisters talk to each other is at home and even then the conversations are short, few and far between.

"Louis." With one word Victoire has turned around and is following her younger sister back down the stairs.

"What's wrong?"

"I have no idea but Freddie looked petrified."

"Where are they?"

"I don't know that either."

They run around the school, asking whoever they can if they know where their brother is, or even if they have seen Molly but no one has an answer.

Finally they find the scene of commotion – the third floor corridor. A large crowd has formed around two young boys who are aiming their wands at one another. Even with Molly Weasley II standing in between them.

"I don't know what they're doing but, for Merlin's sake, _make them stop._" The fourteen year old in the middle of the duel screams at her cousins.

The boy opposite Louis is wearing a Gryffindor jumper and is no doubt picking a fight with the blonde due to his being in Slytherin. The Gryffindor towers over Louis and it is easy to see that he isn't a First Year like his opponent.

"James!" Dom stands beside her cousin, "As the first Gryffindor in this generation of Weasleys, it is your duty to tell me who the hell that is and why he's picking on Lou." Dominique demands of her young cousin who stares up at her in fear. She has this effect.

"H-he's Lincoln Chiles."

"Yeah, thought he looked familiar. His sister's in my year. She's a bitch, too." Drawing in a deep breath, Dominique smirks and moves towards Molly. The redhead in the middle of the soon-to-be duel moves instantly. Victoire moves to stand with her sister, the two of them back-to-back.

Dominique faces Lincoln with a raised eyebrow and laughs shortly. Victoire faces her brother with a concerned face and mouths '_are you alright?'_

"I think you should leave right now." Dominique says without any emotion, "I'm only 15 years old but you are barely thirteen. And her-" she gestures over her shoulder at Victoire "-well, she's 16, isn't she?"

"What do I care?"

"We have years of experience on you. I know curses you haven't even heard of. Even if you knew how to counter spells, good lucking countering something you don't know of." Her threats weren't empty, she knew many things a witch her age shouldn't, she could probably put Victoire to shame with some of her hexes. "I could make sardines come out of your nose with a flick of my wand."

"Oi, Dominique, you messing with my baby brother?" Dominique rolls her eyes and turns her head slightly, groaning at the sight of Verona Chiles.

"Merely staging an intervention."

Verona draws her wand, ready to cast a spell but Dominique is as quick as they come. Her wand points at the other witch while Victoire runs to protect Louis and Molly draws her wand on Lincoln who scrambles to find his in his robes.

"Don't make me do it, Verona. It wouldn't be the first time."

"What, going to tickle me to death? Even Lincoln knows how to reverse a tickling hex." Verona baits Dominique.

"Please, I've come a lot further than that. I could tickle you and then have you sneezing at the same time. Or do you more fancy a shaved head and some antlers?" Dominique waves her wand slightly, causing red sparks to come out of the end, showing her anger.

"_What is going on here?!"_ Dominique's wand drops to her side instantly at the sound of Professor Clearwater's voice – Verona and Molly do the same, Lincoln still hasn't found his.

"Just having a little chat, Professor."

"Of course, Miss Weasley. Isn't it always?" Professor Clearwater sighs in exasperation, "10 points from each of you for duelling in the corridor."

"We didn't even do anything!" Dominique says angrily.

"And another 10 for back chatting. All of you, disperse!" all the bystanders scattered in different directions, leaving the nine of them standing around, still being supervised by Professor Clearwater.

"Well?"

"Just one question," Dominique turns to Lincoln who swallows the lump in his throat harshly.

"Why the hell are you picking on Louis for?" Victoire finishes off, pushing Dominique out of her path. The latter smiles somewhat proudly that her older sister is taking charge.

Though the answer never comes because Lincoln is pulled away by Verona under Professor Clearwater's orders.


	5. Kiss

"I really don't want to go back." Dominique mumbles to herself as she stares at the brick wall. She pushes her trolley through itl and reappears on Platform 9 ¾. Her sister appears beside her but quickly walks in the other direction. When her younger brother emerges, she smiles at him and he smiles back.

"Where is Victoire?" her mother asks and Dominique shrugs, pointing lamely in the direction she saw her sister disappear. "Of course. 'Ave a good year, Dominique. Remember your manners."

"Always do, mama." She leans forward and kisses her mother's cheeks. "Je t'aime."

"Moi aussi." Fleur Weasley follows her son through the crowd with his trolley while Bill stands beside his daughter.

"No letters home this year, okay?"

"I can't make any promises." Dominique smirks, "Thanks for keeping them from mum."

"It keeps the peace." Bill laughs at her, leaning down to kiss her forward. "I love you but try a bit harder to behave."

"As I said: no promises." She takes off quicker than ever before, pushing her trolley through the crowd not worrying about running over anyone's feet. She hears some people call her name but ignores them and focuses on getting her luggage onto the train.

Once she is free of her belongings, Dominique returns to the platform and moves through the crowd in search of her boyfriend. Her family don't know she has a boyfriend but they all know who he is. It hasn't been very long and she is only fourteen to his seventeen but she's the happiest she has ever been.

Her smile widens as she sees a head of hair, bright green in colour. It can only be one person and she knows immediately that her boyfriend has come to see her off, just as he promised.

He's speaking to his friends Zara and Wesley. Zara is the same age and is only at the station to see off her younger siblings (all five of them) while Wesley is the year below him. Dominique walks up to them casually, not wanting to appear too eager though her heart is beating so fat she's afraid it may come right out of her chest.

"There she is." Dom hears him say, smiling as he does so. As soon as she is standing by his side, he has thrown his arm over her shoulder and his kissing the top of her head.

"Hi." She breathes out, before quickly composing herself and smiling at Zara and Wesley, "How was your summer?"

"Oh, wonderful!" Zara says excitedly, "I went to visit my cousins in America and it was _so_ wonderful, though they don't come of age until they're 20 so I wasn't able to go out and drink, but the country is _so_ pretty and the people are undoubtedly the loveliest people I have ever met! Have you ever been?"

"I haven't," Dom shakes her head, "I would love to but we spent most of our holidays in France with my mum's family."

"Your family does, but you prefer to stay at Shell Cottage, don't you Dom?"

"I'd prefer neither but I have to choose." She answers Teddy's question honestly and he chuckles lightly despite the deadpan she used to speak.

"Have you already put your stuff away?" he asks.

"Yeah, it's on the train."

"I have something to give to you, take me there." He moves his arm from around her shoulder so that he can hold her hand and she guides him back through the crowd of people. Once they're in the compartment – to find it void of everything except for her belongings – she turns to him and asks him what he wanted to give her.

"Just a goodbye present." He leans down to kiss her softly on the lips and she smiles instantly. As the kiss deepens, she moves her hands to his now bright pink hair while his move to hers. "You look good with blonde hair."

Her mind flickers briefly to her new hair colour – something she did just to please her mother – and she's relieved that he likes it because all she wants is his approval.

Teddy moves to sit down on the left side of the compartment and pulls his girlfriend down with him so she's sitting down sideways in his lap with her back to the door. He controls himself because he understands that she's only fourteen, though he wishes that she was older.

They pull away from each other as they hear a gasp from outside the door and feet scampering down the hallway. Dominique swings around quickly to try and get a glimpse of the person who caught their make out session, but she sees nothing but a hand.

"Did you see-?"

"James." Teddy answers before she can even get the whole question out. She closes her eyes, sighs but then smiles.

"They had to find out sooner or later." She laughs, turning around to kiss his cheek.

"Will he even know it's you? Has he seen you as a blonde?"


	6. Missing

When Louis disappears in the summer of 2019, Dominique knows just how much pain she had put her parents through the year before.

When he doesn't return from his friend's house, the whole family begins to panic. His friend hasn't heard from Louis since he left that morning. It is exactly the same panic the family went through when Dominique was supposed to be staying at Teddy's, only to have him say she had never arrived.

No one knew where to look when Dominique disappeared and no one knows where Louis may have gone. He is only fourteen so the panic is much greater than Dominique ever caused.

She worries that it is her fault, that she has given her younger brother ideas. Teddy is the first to assure her that she's not the one to blame, but she doesn't know whether to believe him. No other Weasley grandchild has ever decided to run away from home.

The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol is contacted and they begin their hunt for the missing boy. He is without a wand and therefore unable to do magic, making it near impossible for him to be found.

"They'll find him, Dom. Don't worry."

"Don't worry? _Don't worry? _My baby brother is missing and you're telling me not worry? Go fuck yourself!"

Teddy is taken aback by Dom's anger. Sure, he's seen her angry before, but this anger is accompanied by sadness and fear. He knows all too well that Louis is the only person Dominique would ever worry so much over. She knows that Teddy can look after himself, that he doesn't need her to worry for him. Louis, though, Louis is only a baby in her eyes, he's the only person who has always been there for her, never ridiculed her for being different.

"This is all my fault, Teddy!" she shouts and it bounces off the walls.

"It most certainly is!" Fleur screams at her daughter, "How _dare_ you give him such ideas! He never would have thought of this if you weren't doing it all the time!"

With a scowl, Dominique runs from the house. With her mother watching, she Disapparates.

She understands that it will only add to her mother's stress, but that is the point behind her actions. She wants to cause her mother grief, the same grief she has put up with for years.

She's wondering through Diagon Alley after taking a moment to come back to her sense – Apparition always left her off balance and off colour. It is filled with people from around the world due to it being the summer holidays. She hears American accents throughout the street as she walks towards the Leaky Cauldron. She wonders what if would be like to leave England and move across the Atlantic Ocean, starting a new life in America.

She decides that she couldn't do it, no matter how much she dislikes her family; she could not be that far away from them, especially Louis.

As she steps up to a brick wall, it disappears in front of her. As she is exiting Diagon Alley, she does not need to tap them in any particular order.

"Hello, Dominique, need a room?" the young witch looks up at Hannah Longbottom and nods silently. She has become well known in the Leaky Cauldron due to constantly running away from home. "Here's your usual room key. Any idea how long you'll be staying?"

"It'll probably just be tonight." Dominique answers as she turns around, but she changes her mind and rests at the counter. "You haven't see Louis, have you?"

"I can't say I have, is everything okay?"

"He's gone missing." Dominique answers and Hannah frowns, repeating that she hasn't seen any sign of him. "If you hear anything, could you let me know?"

"Of course."

Dominique walks up the stairs to the familiar room. She knows it well. As does the family owl.

Chester is already waiting for her when she opens the door. He's hooting loudly and incessantly but she doesn't have anything to calm him down as she left Shell Cottage with nothing but her wand and the clothes on her back.

"Fuck, Chester. Shut it!" she screams at the owl who hoots one last time in fear before becoming silent.

She steps toward the barn owl and carefully removes the letter from its leg.

_Dominique,_

_How dare you leave! First your brother goes missing and then you decide to leave! Don't come home until you've found him, that better be what you've gone off today._

_Mum._

Dominique's first thought is her wondering why she wasn't sent a howler. Her second is that she doesn't really care if she never goes home. It's not really _home_, anyway. Louis is the only person she'd miss and they can meet each other whenever – she would probably go visit him during Hogsmeade trips.

* * *

Morning arrives and Dominique hears a commotion downstairs. It's not unusual for The Leaky Cauldron to be the home of a large ruckus, but the witch can hear a certain voice that makes her shoot out of bed.

She bends down quickly to pick up her shoes before running down the corridor – she had slept in her clothes due to a lack of anything to change in to – and into the main section of the establishment.

She launches herself at a blonde boy and hugs him tightly.

"Louis!" she exclaims in his ear and he looks at her in shock.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here?" she asks back, mortified, "I'm _always_ here! What are _you_ doing here?!"

"I had to get away."

She notices the strain on his face, to see such a look on the face of a fourteen year old boy troubles Dominique.

"I have to get you home." She grips his forearm and drags him out the door, tapping her wand against the bricks in an all too familiar pattern. Louis squirms against her grip but she keeps a firm grasp.

She walks them to a secluded area and before Louis can say another word, they're spinning on the spot, landing right outside Shell Cottage.


	7. Umbrella

"Gah, Merlin help me." Dominique grumbles as a drop of rain hits her cheek. She rummages through her bag, pulling out the umbrella given to her by her uncle, Harry, when he had heard she was interested in visiting London solo. Initially she had rejected the offer but when he had reminded her that she was not allowed to use magic to deflect the rain. She took the umbrella but prayed that the rain would stay away.

As he had handed her the umbrella, Harry had given her a quick demonstration of how to use it without magic. Whenever her mother had opened an umbrella, all she had to do was hold it above her head and it expanded. She wasn't allowed to do that, though.

As the rain got heavier she searches more frantically until she finally grabs it. She put two hands onto the umbrella and pushes one of them upwards. When the umbrella doesn't open, she tries again to no avail.

"Fuck it!" She curses loudly, catching the attention of a few nearby people. All of whom are being protected from the rain. She continues to try and fail for a few minutes before someone stands beside her, holding theirs over her head.

"Hold this for a second." A male, Irish accent says, holding out his own umbrella and she takes hold of the handle. When he takes her umbrella from her, she smiles up at him. "They're tricky things, aren't they? Never open when you want them to."

"Uh, yeah."

"There ya go." He smiles at her, trading umbrellas quickly so they won't get any wetter.

"Thank you." She smiles back at him, taking in his dark hair and bright eyes. "My name's Dominique."

"Ronan, nice to meet you." He shakes her hand, the smile never leaving his face. "What's a pretty young lass like you doing wondering the streets of London alone in the rain?" Dominique pauses slightly at the subtle compliment she has been given.

"I just wanted to go for a walk; I wasn't expecting it to rain so hard."

"It's London, love, raining is the only thing that ever happens."

She stares at her feet in embarrassment. She knew that, she had just been hoping she would get lucky.

"Where are you headed?" Ronan asks her. Dominique shrugs.

"It's an adventure."

"Need a partner?"

Dominique nods with a small smile on her face. It has been twelve months since Teddy had left her crying on her front doorstep and 2 months since he asked Victoire to be his girlfriend. She decides it's time to move on for good, to forget Theodore Lupin and her stupid sister.

Ronan held the umbrella slightly in front of him to shield them from the rain that was coming directly at their faces. Dominique's breath hitched in her throat momentarily when he unconsciously put his arm over her shoulders, further protecting her from the rain and the cold.

"Where are you from?" Ronan asked curiously after a few minutes of silence had elapsed.

"Cornwall. Right on the coast. Literally on the beach." Dominique told him. She wasn't going to tell him that she had been living permanently at the Leaky Cauldron for the past two years. Not that she could tell a Muggle about the Leaky Cauldron.

"Nice, I bet it's lovely."

"Beautiful." Her response was short and somewhat bitter. There was no denying the physical beauty of Shell Cottage; she just wished it hadn't been tainted by awful memories.

They wandered through the streets of London and ended up in Piccadilly Circus. Dominique was trying her hardest to act like a Muggle, to not be interested in what Ronan clearly saw as mundane aspects of his everyday life. She had slipped up a few times and covered it with not knowing much other than her small town in Cornwall.

It was when the wind began to blow harder that the pair ran into some difficulty. Ronan's umbrella flew up above their heads and was quickly turned inside out. Dominique threw her arms over her head in a hurry.

"_Impervious_, am I right?" Ronan muttered, gathering the umbrella with a grunt.

"What?" Dominique asked quickly, wanting to make sure she had heard correctly.

"_Impervious_. It'd be a lot more useful than umbrellas." Ronan responded casually and Dominique dropped her arms, suddenly uncaring about her hair.

"Are you -?"

"A wizard?" he asked. Dominique's head whipped around to make sure no one was around to hear him. "Nah, my step-mum's a witch."

"How did you know _I was one_?"

"She's terrible with umbrellas, too. Wasn't hard to guess. You staying at the Leaky Cauldron, then?"

"You _knew_?"

"The whole time, yeah. You freaked out when you saw an iPhone." Dominique looked at her feet in embarrassment. Her hair was sticking to her forehead, her eye-makeup was smudged because she had rubbed her eyes in an attempt to get water out of them and she had looked like a fool.

"_Impervious_, though. Am I right?"


	8. Mischief

"What's that?" Dominique questions, noticing that James was holding a blank piece of parchment.

"The answer to all your problems, Dom." James' response is met with a smirk from the other two boys – Fred and Louis – while Dominique rolls her eyes.

She is in her seventh year at Hogwarts, Fred is in his fourth and Louis and James are in their third. She knows that she's probably too old to be hanging out with her cousins and brother, but she also knows that those boys know how to have the most fun.

"It's the Marauders' Map."

"Huh?"

"Aka the best thing ever invented." Louis offers.

"Invented by who?"

"His grandfather." Fred answers, pointing at James. Dom raises an eyebrow at him and he smiles proudly.

"I nicked it from dad's office," he explains, unfolding the parchment. Dominique opens her mouth but is cut off. "Yes, it's blank but just you wait."

"No, I was going to say that maybe there's a reason he was hiding it…"

"He obviously wasn't hiding it if I got a hold of it." James taps his wand onto the paper, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_."

Dominique watches in amazement as, before her eyes, the entirety of Hogwarts Castle appears on the parchment. A map of the entire castle, with footprints and name tags is laid out in front of her and she can't believe what she is seeing.

"You're fucking kidding me," she breaths, tracing over the footprints of Aldous Pallot as he runs around in circles, Jago Brinkley right on his tail. "Are they-?"

"Shagging? Probably." Fred winks at her and laughs, noticing that she has spotted the entangled pair of feet belonging to Kingsley Talton and Charlotte Stonem – Ravenclaw's in the year below them. "This thing's great for finding out who's shagging who."

"Except for that time that we saw Travis Isle and Sinead Sixsmith together…" James trails off, Dominique is about to ask him what happened when Louis finishes for him.

"We confronted Sinead about it – wrong person, we know, but we saw her first – and she hexed Fred. His nose bled for an hour."

Dominique laughs at her cousin's misfortune and quickly snatches the map from James. He reaches back to grab for it, but she holds it above her head and runs from him. He's only just turned thirteen and he isn't as tall as her, making it easy for Dominique to play keep away.

"Your grandfather was a genius!" Dominique exclaims, analysing as much of the castle as she could before the three boys reclaimed their map. "How do you know it was him?"

"That'd be why dad had it, right?" James asks, standing beside Dominique, Louis appearing on her other side.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs? The Marauders. All the stories I've heard about him from Hagrid, could very well be him."

"Let's go ask him!" Fred suggests enthusiastically.

"It's almost lock out." Dominique reminds them. All at the same time, the three boys get huge smirks on their faces. "What am I missing?"

James produces a long cloak and drapes it over his shoulders. Dom's face lights up as his body disappears. She breaths out "Fuck" as he pulls it over his head and is completely out of sight.

The suggestion that all four of them get under the cloak renders Dom speechless. The three boys manage to fit under the cloak, she is told, but she isn't sure if she will, too.

Louis grabs her hand and pulls her underneath the cloak. She notices the gap at the bottom now that she has joined them but the situation is quickly fixed when Fred tugs her town, forcing her to stoop.

Their journey to Hagrid's is difficult. Dominique has to remember to keep bent over, her back hurting before they have even left the castle, and they have to coordinate their footsteps though every now and then they lose their feet.

James is the one to knock on the door. Dom attempts to lower the cloak, but Fred stops her. He's smiling at her but she doesn't quite understand.

"Who's there?" Hagrid asks in utter confusion upon seeing that no one is at his door. The boys use their fingers to count to three and rip the cloak over their heads quickly, revealing themselves and Dominique to the half-giant. "Of course it's you three. Come inside." They shuffle into his hut and sit down on the array of wobbly, uncomfortable chairs. "What brings you four here?"

"The Marauders," James answers. The smile that slips onto Hagrid's face lets the group know that they have come to the right person. "I have their map." He holds up the parchment that helped them get to the hut without encountering anyone.

"Mind telling us who they are?" Louis asks and Dom hits him for being so rude. "Please?"

As they sip on weak tea and break their teeth on rock cakes, Hagrid relays stories of the Marauders – James Potter and his three best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Dom feels happier knowing that Teddy's father was behind the map, too, she doesn't know why she feels that way but she does. James is ecstatic to know that his namesakes were as mischievous as he was.

When they finally leave the hut under the cloak and walk back to the castle with the help of the map, the three boys are far too excited to keep their voices down. Hagrid revealed a few things about the Marauders that made them all the more eager to use the map to their advantage.

They stop by the Dungeons first to deliver Louis and then just around the corner to let Dominique get back to her bed.

She doesn't go to bed immediately after reaching the Hufflepuff Common Room, instead she takes the opportunity of complete silence to write a letter to her boyfriend, Teddy. She thinks he deserves to know that his father was as much of a rebel as he was.


End file.
